The Best Part
Rating: K+
Summary: What I imagined for Luke and Lorelai after season 4. Rory finds out about their relationship and so does Emily. Luke and Lorelai have to deal with it.
Spoiler: Raincoats and Recipes
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, all property of Amy Sherman-Palladino, gorgeous writer and creator of this show.
Pairing: Luke/ Lorelai

The Best Part

They had been silent for a long time now, the only sound in the kitchen was of the pancakes being made on the pan and the eventual clank of the cutlery. Lorelai was sitting, just watching him smoothly move around her place, magically turning the few ingredients she had there into pancakes and breakfast food. It smelled delicious and she simply couldn't wipe the grin off her face. She was comfortably wrapped in his flannel shirt, snuggling it closer to her nose to feel his scent again, half of her still refusing to believe he was there, with her, after spending the night.

Luke turned to put more pancakes on her plate and realized she wasn't eating. She was still looking mesmerized at him and that image made him laugh.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Yes, but I want you to sit and eat with me first. It's not fun eating alone."

"Let me just finish this and we can eat." He sad, moving back to the oven and putting more pancakes there.

Lorelai rose from her seat, walking lightly on her socks-covered feet, and stood behind him, as he absently flipped the pancakes and looked at them proudly. Lorelai wrapped her arms around his chest and pulled him closer to her, feeling his scent, burying her face on his neck and kissing lightly. She simply didn't see another reason for them to be apart right now, screw the pancakes. She needed him more than she needed coffee, she needed the feel of his arms around her, his hands touching her like he's used to do. Luke turned quickly and captured her smiling face, her bright blue eyes staring back at him with that mixture of feelings that could take his breath away.

"I love your eyes" he whispered, leaning against her so their foreheads were touching.

That is the best part, she thought, as his lips moved to find hers. Kissing Luke was the best thing ever, cuddling with him, the sweet little things he did unconsciously to her, like holding the door open, calling her to say good night, taking her hand in such a delicate way and kissing it, careful so his stubble wouldn't hurt her. The few times she caught him staring lovingly at her, one of them they were in the diner, but yet he couldn't help but gaze fondly at her and take her breath away. He was mastering it, making it a habit, taking her breath away so frequently and in so many different ways that she couldn't stop it anymore.

Lorelai still had things to deal with now. Things that didn't concern him in any way, but she didn't kept him away from her problems as she thought she would do. It happened naturally, when she discovered Rory had had sex with Dean she was heart-broken. She felt her heart shrinking in her chest by the sight of her baby girl crying at the front door, she felt the urge of going to Dean and kill him with her bare hands. Love was such a tricky thing, specially for them. Rory was learning that the hard way and part of her was hating Lorelai now, for showing her the bad part of it.

The day after it all happened, Rory decided to go to Europe. Emily wanted to go to Rome with her and show her some places that she missed by backpacking with Lorelai. But deep inside all Rory wanted was to be away from everything that was clouding her mind, the horrible pain she was feeling now. Lorelai watched her leave with a dry good-bye and a cold kiss on her cheek and when the house was empty again, she could only let herself fall on the couch and cry. Lorelai cried for more than an hour that day, feeling so hopeless for the first time, incapable of helping her kid, of making her problems go away. She didn't want her to go through that and now she didn't have any idea of what to do.

And, because of that, she pushed Luke away. It wasn't a conscious thing, she didn't mean to push him away, it was just the way things happened. For a day or two, maybe even three, she didn't show up at the diner and did nothing but curl up on her couch and go to Dragonfly. After all she had work to do, the Inn depended on her. It was a good thing she had her work to focus or she'd go crazy by worrying about Rory.

Three days later Luke entered the Dragonfly when she least expected him to. He didn't had flowers this time, just that look of concern on his face, that gave out a little when he saw her, with her back to him. At least she was there, alive and healthy, he thought. A million thoughts had come to his mind when she didn't appear at the diner the day after the best day of his life. The day he would mark on his calendar as a holiday, the day Lorelai had kissed Luke. Kids would be thrilled when this date was a Thursday cause that would mean skipping school, an official holiday.

Lorelai turned and froze when she saw him. Part of her wanted to run upstairs and hide, but the strongest part of her made her walk to his direction and talk to him. She felt like walking in slow motion until she was just a few inches from him.

"Hi," he said, serious.

"Hi," she replied, serious as well.

"What's happened? I don't see you in three days."

"I... I was a little busy lately. You know, the Inn is officially opening this week."

"Yeah, I know." Luke searched her face, he was sure there was something wrong and she was desperately wanting to talk about it, but she didn't know how. "Are you busy right now?"

"A little, yeah."

"I think we should talk."

"Talk?"

Lorelai's eyes filled with fear, by that moment she was absolutely sure that he was going to break up with her, or something like that. Would he break up before things actually start for real? Did he realize the troublemaker woman she really was and decided to pull back before it was too late? She definitely didn't want to deal with that right now.

"Yeah. Let's go outside, I need to talk to you."

Luke pulled her by the arm and they walked in silence to the stables, where the horses were quiet and almost asleep. She loved those horses with such force she never thought she was capable of, that was the place to where she would go the first, when she arrived at the Inn, she was the one who spent more time with them, feeding, patting, brushing their hairs, talking to them like she used to do to her pony dolls when she was a kid.

"Look, I understand what you're going to say, I just ask you to not hate me. I couldn't stand you hating me."

"Hate you? What are you talking about, crazy woman?"

"Men usually hate me when they break up with me."

"But I'm not breaking up with you. We didn't even start to date properly for me to break up, what's that about?"

"No? But I thought you had lost your patience after my disappearing for three days and..."

"That's why I'm here, to ask what happened."

"Oh." She said. She didn't see that coming. But how couldn't she, he was the guy who would fix her fence at six in the morning so it wouldn't disturb her, he was the guy who would break into the window of her house to fix her creaking door, the one she didn't realize was not working. So, he was there to ask why did she vanished.

"I know you needed some time to think, I needed too, but I started to worry when you didn't show up for breakfast, how could you survive without caffeine these past days?"

"I had some other things in my mind to keep me awake."

"Such as..."

She looked at him, unsure. Rory would hate her if she told him, but Rory already hated her anyway. She thought of the last time she had seen her daughter and the cold goodbye she gave her, the bitterness on her voice that still hurt her so bad when she thought of it. So bad that she couldn't stop her lower lip from trembling and some tears forming at the back of her eyes.

"Lorelai?" he asked, seeing her struggle with her thoughts.

"Oh, Luke," she said, crying. And before she could realize, he had pulled her into his arms and he was hugging her tight and secure, slowly caressing the top of her head. He didn't know exactly what to say, but he wanted to hold her until her tears went away. In fact, he didn't want her crying at all, it hurt him and it brought a funny dull pain to his chest, like he never had before. Well, maybe when her sister had told him that her husband had abandoned her and her baby son, but he knew he could help Liz back then. Now he wasn't sure if he could help Lorelai. God, let it be money, so he could lend her and fix it. Or let it be her needing some wise words of reassurance from him.

"What is it, Lorelai?" he said in a sweet voice. He thought he would never say anything in a sweet voice, but there he was, almost on his knees for her, desperately wanting to make her feel better and talking in a sweet voice.

"It's Rory."

"Rory? What happened to her?" he said.

Lorelai pulled away a bit, wiping the tears off her face and looking at the wet spot she left on his shirt. "I'm sorry," she said, pointing it to him. He nodded, it was nothing.

"Rory's gonna kill me if she finds out I told you. But, well, she already hates me anyway..."

"She would never hate you. She might be mad at you, but she does not hate you."

"I hope you're right."

"What happened?" he tried again.

"Rory slept with Dean."

"What?! I'm going to kill that brat, where is he?"

"Luke! Luke, stop it!" Lorelai said, holding his arm.

"He can't do such thing, he's married!"

"I know that. Rory does too, but I don't know what the hell they had in mind. Now he said he's going to break up with Lindsay, but it's too late cause Rory's first time was with a married man and she didn't realized that until I told her. Now she hates me for being the one who brought her to the light of reality."

"Her first time? But thought that she and Jess..."

"Good lord, no!" she said fast and then fixed it "I'm sorry. I know he's your nephew, but..."

"That's ok, I know what kind of boyfriend he was to Rory."

Lorelai wrapped her arms around herself in a protective manner. She was feeling so hopeless, so unsure of what to do. It was nice having Luke there to help her deal with it. For once in her life she wasn't alone.

"I don't know what I should do."

"I don't think you should do anything. Wait for her to return and then she will fix it herself, as a woman. Would you like if your mother went fixing things like this for you?"

"I'm not my mother, that's too different!"

"I know, but I'm just pointing that Rory wouldn't want you to fix it for her, specially when she's away. Wait for her to return and then the two of you talk about it."

Lorelai looked down at her shoes and the up to Luke, who was smiling softly at her. She loved those warms eyes and strong arms, that were now stretched for her, to hold her. The knowledge that he would be there for her when she needed brought tears to her eyes again and she wasted no time before running to his open arms and letting herself being hugged again.

"Thanks, Luke," she said, raising her face to his and kissing him. He eagerly responded, kissing her back. For a moment they forgot about any eventual citizen walking by that might see them. But that was the moment in which Lorelai decided it would be a great thing to be his girlfriend, in spite of all the gossip they might face later.

Things have changed since then. During the summer they had spent more time together that Lorelai would thought it was possible. Not that she was complaining, far from that, but she never thought she would want to spend as much time as she did with Luke. Everyday, when she was done with her work at the Inn, she would go to his diner to have coffee, talk and see him. She would sit on a stool at the counter and watch silently as he went refilling the few customer's mug of coffee while exchanging one of those many meaningful smiles with her.

And, obviously, people in town started to notice they weird behavior. Luke and Lorelai looked like one of those couples... in love! And they were dating! Finally, Luke and Lorelai were dating and they were expected to get married soon cause she was pregnant, said the rumor. But, for the first time in her life, Lorelai was so absorbed by someone that she didn't even pay attention to what had been said.

Some nights she would stay at the diner with him and then go upstairs, to spend the night. But since Luke's bed wasn't what she would call comfortable, she had managed to convince him to go her place, where they would have more privacy and a lot more space. Luke's favorite hobby lately was making out with Lorelai on her couch. He was used, by now, with the tiny imperfections of her old worn out couch, but he couldn't think of a better place in the world to be with her.

It felt so good and so nice that Lorelai almost forgot the problems that were tormenting her. She could, at least for a while, take her mind away from her daughter and stop worrying. As long as he could take her breath away, she knew things would be fine with her.

And, after almost two months, Rory and Emily arrived from Europe.

They arrived two days before the expected and Rory didn't want to tell Lorelai about it. She spent the night at her grandparents house and the next day she drove home in the morning, hoping the surprise would thrill her mom. She missed her badly, she wanted to tell her how sorry she was for not calling during her trip and apologizing for the cold goodbye she said before leaving. Deep inside, all Rory wanted was to curl up on her mom's lap.

That was the same morning Luke was making breakfast for Lorelai. The morning in which she was gazing at him, admiring not only his cooking skills, but his lean form. She had never noticed before how long and muscled his arms were, although she had felt it several times before. Did Luke work out? She couldn't picture him in a gym, working out, it was so... so not Luke-ish.

Lorelai couldn't stop smiling. She felt like the Cheshire cat when she rose from her seat to hold him from behind, her hands meeting in front of his chest as she leaned against his shoulder, planting kisses all over it, then burying her face on his neck. Luke forgot what he was doing and turned to face her, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her quickly. Like a second good-morning kiss. It could melt her away, the warmth of his lips, it could turn her insides into jelly, slowly melting like butter under his touch. Suddenly she had become so vulnerable when it comes to him, she never knew that someone would have such power over her. Besides Rory, of course, but that was a whole different thing.

"Mom!" she heard her daughter's voice calling her. But it all happened so fast she didn't had the time to acknowledge what was happening, suddenly Luke was pushing her slightly away and Rory was in front of them, looking not only surprised but somewhat amused too.

"Rory?" she said, her face flushed and her lips swollen from kissing Luke. Man, she had such lips! She could spend the whole day just kissing him if... Hey, focus, Lorelai! Do not think of kissing now, your daughter is right in front of you and she obviously knew what was going on. Of course, I'm in pajamas an in Luke's flannel shirt and he... Lorelai risked a quick glance in his direction. Luckily he was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt that he... wait, where the hell did he got those from?

"Rory! Oh, my God, you're back!" Lorelai said, before almost running to her direction and pulling her daughter into a bear hug. The girl hugged her back and they bounced like two high school girls, meeting again after a long summer break. Luke felt kind awkward now.

"We're back a little earlier than we're expected, I thought you'd like the surprise."

"Sure I did, hon! My, I missed you so much!" she said, caressing Rory's hair fondly, turning all motherly. "How was the trip? Did you had fun with grandma? Oh my god, what am I asking, you went to Europe with Emily Gilmore, obviously you didn't had fun..."

"No, it was great. Grandma showed me some places in Rome that you would love! Hi, Luke," she said, nonchalantly.

"Hi." He said. Then Lorelai blushed violently, realizing she had some explaining to do.

"Er... Rory, I think we have a lot to catch up today."

"I'm sure we do!" she said, excitedly. And she looked at Luke, who took the moment to say his good-byes.

"Well, I think I should go now. See you later?"

"Sure," Lorelai said, smiling at him "We'll go to the diner later, to have lunch."

"Okay, see you girls later. Bye, Rory, bye Lorelai."

"I... I'll take you to the door." She said, following him.

Rory couldn't help but smirk at the sound of their muffled voices and the silence that was obviously a kiss. Her mom and Luke? Jeez, things were really changing in Stars Hollow!

She was still smiling when Lorelai returned, her hair messy and her face still flushed. They looked at each other for five seconds, with a huge silly grin before Rory burst out.

"Oh, my God!" Rory said, bouncing.

"I know!"

The girls held hands and bounced together, squealing.

THE END